Category: arts

Perfectly Pink

Claire Arrand / / arts, Special Collections

One of my favourite sentences is ‘Have you read …?’, either because a good book can be recommended to a friend/colleague/family member or because following a positive response the result is an interesting discussion. I am referring to works of fiction but being a librarian this obviously spills over into work. As Special Collections Librarian I am seconded to Lincoln Cathedral Library two days a week, working in Exchequer Gate home of medieval manuscripts, early printed books, modern reference and archival material, available for staff and students.

Toni Watts was Lincoln Cathedral’s Artist in Residence 2015-2016, during which time she spent many hours looking through the illuminations in Lincoln Cathedral Library’s medieval manuscripts. Not wanting to lose her exquisite skill set the Cathedral has retained the connection with her position as Cathedral Illuminator. Find out more about Toni’s work – A Medieval Scribe in the Modern Day: the Illuminations of Toni Watts

Last month I came across a catalogue record in Lincoln Cathedral’s library catalogue for Mark Clarke’s Early English Text Society’s 2016 volume 347.

I emailed Toni with the ‘Have you read’ sentence and during her subsequent visit to Exchequer Gate, where the journal is located, Toni found a recipe for pink. A proper pink, not an orangey pink, which required brazilwood and an artist’s eye to transform from the page into paint. This pink will be used in Toni’s future classes, as she said “The benefit of access to a good book”. 

The following week I collected a bumper crop of oak galls from oak trees in Silica Country Park, which Toni uses to make the iron gall ink and will be used to make her black ink. 

See Toni Watts’ Website 

Claire Arrand Special Collections Librarian https://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/specialcollections  

The Zine and Queer Self Expression

Oonagh Monaghan / / #LGBTHM23, arts, LGBT+ History Month, Library, transgender, Uncategorized, zines

Jamie Markham (BA History Student)

SEDIC (Humanities and Heritage: Students Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee) Student Representative

 

This past December, I was given the opportunity to create my own zine (available here on the Library website: Queer Love: An Invisible History) with the workshop that the lovely University of Lincoln staff hosted in the Library. Knowing little about zines, this event allowed me to unravel a rich queer history of self-expression. Much more than a booklet, the zine was a movement, an outlet, and a message to society. One in which allowed LGBTQ+ people to become fiercely visible in the face of oppression. Let me guide you through this rich cultural history as I take you back in time.

Picture of zine Queer Love: An Invisible History by Jamie Markham
Queer Love: An Invisible History by Jamie Markham

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Tell’d: A Lincolnshire queer zine for the community

Oonagh Monaghan / / #LGBTHM23, arts, LGBT+ History Month, Library, transgender, Uncategorized, zines

By Lindsay and Louie

Creators and editors of Tell’d

 

Tell’d is an independently published, queer led zine which curates local queer art, accounts and writing. Our aim is to aid in the communication of local queer people, especially those from isolated areas, something common in Lincolnshire – as well as to provide a source for marginalised local creatives to safely display their work. Our zine celebrates positive representation and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community in a place with few queer spaces and outlets.

 

Photo of Summer issue of Tell'd zine - new and exciting art and poetry from local queer creatives - on laptop with photo of Library zine collection on the screen.
Tell’d zine – Summer 2022

We are currently working on our 3rd edition. We are so proud or our zine; editions 1 and 2 are full of such wonderful work. People are submitting written accounts, reflections, poems, art and photography – highlighting the wealth of talent from Lincolnshire’s LGBTQ+ community. Furthermore, people are making positive connections with other local creatives, discovering and championing their work. People have also expressed that they have found solace, reassurance and inspiration through engaging with the zine’s content. Tell’d is an outlet for celebrating people’s lived experiences and with this in mind, we are currently applying for funding to produce a book; we want to expand the scope of Tell’d zine, harnessing and exploring the positive response we have had so far.

 

The book will incorporate all forms of creative expression – as we have seen in the zine so far, but will have more focus on the stories, accounts and experiences of Lincolnshire’s LGBTQ+ community, past and present. This will be a powerful way of documenting queer histories, histories and lived experiences that are very difficult to access in Lincolnshire. To generate a book of these stories would provide a rich resource for LGBTQ+ heritage. It will help people to realise the richness of our county’s social and cultural fabric which will in turn help younger generations and people struggling with their identity/sexuality to feel connected with their peers. This project will help us to understand the social and cultural context of the LGBTQ+ community within different times and spaces.

LGBTQ+ History Month display boards and zine information
LGBTQ+ History Month display boards and zine information

We have had a great response to the initial stages of the book so far. We are calling out for anybody who would like their stories (or artwork) to be a part of this book. We would greatly appreciate this! We are happy to gather these stories by any means – for example, you could email them, send a word doc or we could gather them orally, recording them in an environment which suits you best. If you would like to find out more or have any questions at all, please email us at: telldzine@gmail.com or on Instagram/FB @telldzine

 

And please remember – we are always looking for submissions for our zine – this is an ongoing call out!

 

Lindsay has been in discussions with Subject Librarian, Oonagh Monaghan about further collaborations including the planning of a Tell’d book, and has featured the current LGBTQ+ History Month display and zines promotion in the next issue of Tell’d which will be available soon!

Queer People ‘Behind the Lens’

Oonagh Monaghan / / #LGBTHM23, arts, Display, LGBT+ History Month, Library, transgender, Uncategorized, zines

By Jemima Sims
Library Assistant in the Main University Library

Founded in 2004, LGBTQIA+ History month is upon us, and the theme is “Behind the Lens”. In February 2023, the UK will celebrate the people behind the scenes of stage and screen, such as costume designers, composers, playwrights, screenwriters, make-up artists and many more. Queer actors and actresses are gaining more visibility than ever, however the people off-screen are often unknown, and their contributions are huge.

Photograph of LGBTQI+ history month display
LGBTQ+ History Month in the main Library

The University Library have put together some social media posts to celebrate these talented and creative people, beginning with some of the most exciting costume designers in history; Adrian, Orry-Kelly and Patricia Field.

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New Library dedicated Decolonisation and EDI area for display and promotion

Oonagh Monaghan / / arts, decolonisation, Display, Library, Reimagining Lincolnshire, Special Collections, Uncategorized

The Library Subject Librarians Hope Williard and Oonagh Monaghan have been active in researching decolonising initiatives at other Higher Education libraries. Attendance at conferences and liaison with librarians across the sector has enabled us to produce our own University of Lincoln decolonising guide for academic staff and students. The next step is to make the work we are already doing more visible. The aim is to embed decoloniality into the physical space of the library. The prospective projects have been grouped into the following four areas: 

  • Revealing coloniality of existing collections 
  • Challenging coloniality 
  • Researching decoloniality 
  • Embracing and extending decoloniality

 

In addition to new resources, sinage and use of the winning design in the recent competition, a permanent space in the Library has been allocated and we are now at the stage where we have the plans in place and materials ordered or arrived and we hope that the space will develop over the first term of 2022.

Illustrated image of ear as question mark with words 'Whose voice are you hearing?'
Winning design by Cherry Wright (Ccrow Illustration) Instagram @worldofccrow 

We want to reveal coloniality with the aim to share with our students, staff, and library community the ways that our practices of organising, displaying, and sharing information are shaped by colonial worldviews and outlooks. 

We want to challenge coloniality by drawing on existing resources and highlighting new developments in the library, this strand aims to spotlight information and resources which challenge the colonial worldviews, allowing those who interact with it to broaden their knowledge and perspectives. 
We want to research coloniality and collaborate, support, and promote research within the university relating to decolonisation. A particular focus of this area is the emerging project on zines, and efforts to actively engage with the university’s student as producer initiatives and internal funding schemes. 
In the final strand we want to embrace and extend decoloniality and propose initiatives which would allow library staff and the wider university community to extend their knowledge of decoloniality and apply this knowledge in the workplace and beyond. 
scale plan of decolonising area on ground floor of Library
Part of this work is about developing awareness in the physical space of the Library and developing a dedicated Decolonisation and EDI area for display and promotion.  Oonagh Monaghan has collaborated with two Interior Architecture academics, Raymund Konigk and Zakkiya Khan on the design of the area to showcase:

    • resources in the Library that show the diverse range of voices already in the collection. 

    • Reveal and raise awareness of historical and colonial injustices which are embedded in the Library systems 

    • Provide a space for materials that highlight issues of social justice and underrepresented voices. 

    • showcase the new zines collection

Any questions, please email omonaghan@lincoln.ac.uk

Library collaboration with the Reimagining Lincolnshire Project

Oonagh Monaghan / / arts, decolonisation, LGBT+ History Month, Library, Reimagining Lincolnshire, Research, Uncategorized, Wikimedia, Wikipedia

(The Reimagining Lincolnshire Project who have a blog Reimagining Lincolnshire – Discovering and sharing untold stories has been engaging with local people and organisations to uncover and celebrate the marginalised and forgotten stories of our city’s past with the hope that we can imagine an inclusive future.  Public space can become a bridge between past and present, a site where differences are celebrated by breaking down barriers and starting conversations.  It also sits alongside the decolonising agenda at the University of Lincoln which aims to challenge the language we use and the ways in which we teach and learn.  The project aims to tell the marginalised stories in new and creative radical ways, challenging existing hierarchies and oppressions that are the result of colonial legacy.

In collaboration with Librarians Hope Williard and Oonagh Monaghan, there are two projects for 2022/23.

For Black History Month, the team have partnered with Wikimedia UK to run an online Wikimedia Heritage Project ‘Wikithon’.

Secondly, Librarian, Oonagh Monaghan has teamed up with Dr Victoria Araj and College of Arts Technician, Jantze Holmes on a ‘Reimagining Zine Project’.

 

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The Duncan Grant Lincoln Cathedral Murals: Mixing Religion with Life

Oonagh Monaghan / / #LGBTHM22, arts, LGBT+ History Month, Special Collections, Uncategorized

By Joshua Sewell (volunteer in the University Library)

Lincoln Cathedral holds a lot of history for a structure composed mostly of stone and glass, a history that goes back nearly a thousand years. Once the tallest structure in the world and formerly one of the resting places of an original copy of the Magna Carta, the building is no stranger to events and possessions of historical importance. But those stories have been told forever and evermore. What we want to find are those tales that are less well known, but still of high value. One such tale finds its home in the Russell Chantry area of the Cathedral, and its events took place not so long ago. Inside the Chantry can be found a set of murals that adorn the walls and hold a significance that many may not be aware of. The murals have been open to public viewing since 1990, but their existence predates this by more than 3 decades. Here a question of great interest presents itself, why were the murals hidden from public view for all that time?

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LGBT+ History Month Reading list

Oonagh Monaghan / / #LGBTHM22, arts, LGBT+ History Month, Library, transgender

For 2022, the Library has a great new reading list which includes many new titles that have just arrived in the Library.  In addition to new titles, there are also examples of other books and resources which link to the theme ‘Politics in Art: ‘The Arc Is Long’

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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365 Books to Celebrate Black History Month Year-Round

Hope Williard / / arts, Library, Research

October is Black History Month and Black history happens every day. To celebrate this, the library has put together a list of 365 books by authors of colour from our catalogue and e-book collections.  The list was inspired by the website Black History 365 and the list of 365 Books By Women put together for International Women’s Day by the New York Public Library. It has been assembled through searches inspired by the Black British Writers wikipedia category page, as well as the African-American writers catalogue page. It also draws lists of books by Black and BAME writers published online, such as this one from Stylist. We hope you find it interesting!

Our More Books service is open for students and staff to request the purchase of items we do not have in our collections, so please do get in touch if you notice any errors or omissions.

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Book Arts event – make a book!

Oonagh Monaghan / / arts, Library

Would you like to make a book?

 Japanese stab binding is a traditional technique originally used to bind pen and ink drawings. 

 Learn more about making books and have a go at binding your own book in this free, enjoyable workshop for staff and students. Suitable for all abilities.

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